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After a basic but effective five-days-built Iron Man Mark IV, I wanted to improve and share my speed-building technics to allow everyone having kids and a full-time job to be still able to build a full foam suit in far less than a month. And it begins with releasing some suitable *.pdo files.
By suitable I don't mean at all that the other guys who unfold for foam should better drop their work right through the gogs. Not at all. By suitable I mean that the templates below can only be used under certain restriction of material :

at first you must use some foam mats, or foam roll, or whatever else, much larger than a common paper sheet. Then, you may use some cheap foam, because these templates generate a impressive amount of waste. And at last, the more your foam is flexible, the more easy will be your build. This point depends mainly of the thickness of this foam. I would recommend somewhere between 5 and 10mm. I use 7mm.

The way I unfold allows each curve and bulge-shaped effect to be obtained without the need of a heat gun. It has occurred that these templates work fairly well with corrugated cardboard, and also, through proper tweaking, for aluminium panels.
But if you plan to use some sheets of foam of one square foot, or one inch thick, or almost unbendable, you won't be able to use these templates. About flexibility, here's a quick illustration of what you'll often have to do with your foam (yea I know, it's paper on the photos, but it's only an illustration) :

This thread aims to gather the models I've unfolded with both "foam" and "speed-build" in mind, as well as the tips that come along with the files. You may notice that some esthetical details are often missing, details like grids, holes, screws, notches, indentations... They have been removed from the templates to build faster, and are called to be added on your own once the armor part is built. Every missing detail can always be implemented afterward. The final shape remains unchanged, you won’t have any ‘more angular’ nor ‘more inflated-like’ body parts than with other files.

At the end we obtain some pepakura files with less and larger pieces, foam flaps for stronger and discrete overlap gluing, and in one word a better compatibility with foam shapeability.

Well at least I assume it is...

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The files below are, and will remain, unlocked and shared freely for all to download and use, since they are used in the evident respect of legality. Do not go thinking so far that I'm plenty of buckets full of free time to work on these files, because it's not the truth at all. And in order to prevent my wife from strangling me, I promised to add this link.

__________________________________________________

For Iron Man mark 4 and 6 I robbed Robo3687's files, I stole the mark VII in DarkSide501st's pockets, and Dancin_fool has modeled the mark III. A big thank to you, without your work all of us would still keep saving the world in underpants.

If it happens you find here a(n other) file that is not fully credited, please contact me.

DarkSide501st's Iron Man Mark VII - v1.0 - unfold for foam by JFcustom.
I have to reedit some files from the beginning for this suit to be doubt-proof and fully workable. I'll should have join a readme file for this one, because I think that some tips need to be explain before you drive straight against the wall...
Note that gloves, brace, collar, collar plate, and neck are missing from MkVII package. You can pick them from Mk2, 3 or 4.

Pepper Potts Rescue Armor - foam edit JFcustom.rarCredits :
Back and torso modeled by Eirth @405th
Arms from a Halo mkVI modeled by Robogenesis @405th
Helmet is IM comic version from EyeOfSauron
All other parts provided by EyeOfSauron's Extremis suit.
All of these post-edited to fit a woman's body.

An overview pic here.
The suit is scaled for a 1m70 heigh girl. (ie 5'7")

And to both solve the issue of the lower eyes that happen to bulge way out, as described here, and improve the details of the ears area, here's an enhanced unfolding version of Sharkhead's Iron Man Helmet :

Tip : at the horn gluing stage we have three loooong pieces to snap together. To be sure to obtain a well curved horn, you may want to face them up first and glue them point by point, this way :

This process should be applied to glue correctly any long side in general.

You may also applie these process if needed : thin the foam on the gluing area, or plainly cut up your pieces of foam without caring about the dot-lined overlap you'll see on the pep files. Illustration :

The dotted lines along the borders of the paper templates are here to delimitate
- the real outter side of the suit (in grey)
from
- the strip that will recieve glue and will be overlapped (in blue) by another piece of foam.

If you're using your 12mm foam, by thinning the blue area you can act like if you were working with some 6mm foam, or you can also completely remove this blue edge depending of the method you plan to assemble your foam pieces.

I've been asked if I had used some 2, 3 or 5 mm when building Sharkhead's helmet, in fact it was some 7mm foam. The illusion was due to the fact that I used several ways to snap the pieces of foam together, depending of the rendering I expected at the surface. Low, medium, heigh, and progressive step :
Gluing pieces side to side will probably be less strong, but will it be not strong enough ? I can't say. No dammage here so far.
One simple thing also is you don't have to mix the dotted lines that represent a mountain or a valley, with the dotted lines that delimit a gluing area. But it might not be much harder on the templates than on the picture below :
In case of doubt, always refer to the 3D view of Pepakura viewer...

I've also been asked to show the way I translate the dotlines from the paper patterns to the inner side of the foam pieces.

We assume a suit is always symetric, we have only one paper template (let's say it's the right side one) and we are at the point we've already managed to cut up two mirrored foam pieces from it.

So, here I lay down the right paper template over the inner side of the left foam piece. With a pen I punch a hole at every strategical point, in order to locate the placement of the lines.

When removing the paper, I see the dots my pen made.

From them I can draw the same lines onto my foam.

Now, I flip my paper mask and lay it over the other foam part, the right side one.
The printed side of the paper is hidden, I can't see my dot lines anymore but I don't care : I still have my previous dot holes. I use my pen once more to mark the placement of these holes.

Here I am. Now I can bin my paper pattern...

...and trace the lines on this second and last foam piece.

My printed lines are accurately transposed, I can cut my hills and valleys...

To fill the remaining gaps, and unexpected valleys, and overall every 'factory-dammages', I don't think any sandable product can go well. Because foam is flexible, and something you can sand is not. As a result your join will keep on breaking at every bending. I've successfully tryed a simple and common alternative : the silicone bathroom mastic-glue-gun.
It sticks, it fills, it's slick and smooth, and it can be shaped. The only thing is you must paint it or primer it with any spray you want before it's dry, or nothing will further hold on to this stuff.

_______

If it's your first step into foam, I suggest you to try your hand on this realy quick and and quite simple Cap' helmet :

Howto :

After having ticked "print alignment marks for multiple pages" in "setting / print setting", you can print your pages. Then, cut away the top and left margins of each of them, and then tape all of them together to obtain a laaarge single page.

Then, cut out your paper pieces just like they are.

If these pieces are too large for your foam hight or width, you'll have to choose between cutting your piece of paper in smaller parts to match your foam sheets size, of seaming multiple foam sheets to obtain a single and large enough foam sheet to match your paper piece size.

Step by step :
Be sure to set A4 or Letter properly, or you'll run the risk to print outside the paper.
You should tape the sheets before cutting the patterns :

... and only then you can cut up your masks. This way you can instantly notice if something's wrong before cuting and before taping, and It prevents both hazardous taping and multiple pieces parts spreading.

3. cut your paper masks
4. cut your foam from the masks
(OR gather 3 and 4 by laying your paper upon your foam to cut both at the same time if you can, you'll save time)
5. you get less and bigger foam parts, you save gluing time, and less junctions means nicer curves an inproved "anti-aliasing".

Now, tips.

Classical cardboard peping is fantastic. Cut all of the pieces, glue them as shown on pepviewer, and from Gabon to Peru you'll get exactly the same shaped armor part.
Foam peping doesn't goes exactly the same, since you use an elastic and springy matérial you can actualy not fold so easily.
However it can be bent and stretched as you like, and it has a practical thickness !

Sharp cutting and clean gluing will make the difference between Iron Man and Jabba the Hutt. So here are some simple tips I used (glue is blue) :

Cut all your foam parts first with no particular angle, some quite right angles would go well, and then, only while assembling, you can adjust inclination edge after edge.

The idea :

The practice :

The result (don't ask, yes it's another piece) :

It's simple as possible : each time the surface of the armor makes an angular outward inflection (not a simple curve, but an real palpable angle), you must make the angled cuts.

Shaping mountains and valleys :

You'll often have to give a shape to a single piece of foam in order to decrease the amount of seams. This will help a lot :

I've been asked many times for a detailed howto, so here are the steps to follow : To make a valley, the only trick is not to cut your foam from side to side. Your blade should never cross the outer side of the foam piece.

1- draw your valley with any pen on the inner side of your foam piece,
2- cut along this line by an angle of 90° in a single pass, without perforate the foam,
3- fold your valley to its desired angle,
4- apply glue inside the notch,
5- wait...
6- release, it's done.

Making a mountain is nearly the same, but you have to make a double cut, in order to remove a long toblerone-shaped piece of foam.

1- draw your mountain on the inner side,
2- cut on either side of this line by an angle of 45°, more or less depending of the desired salient of your mountain, each cut in a single pass, without perforate the foam,
3- remove the toblerone, and apply glue inside the notch,
4- fold your mountain to its desired angle,
5- wait...
6- release, it's done.

If you flunk, don't panic : re-heat the cold glue so you can inflect the angle.
The most important thing is to keep your blade damn-sharped !

And before you ruin your WM, I suggest you could pactice with waste foam pieces... until you're self-confident.

forcing a curve :

And here are some close'ups of the way I use the overlaps to build quite cleanly most of a suit's parts. Here, a back part.

No this picture hasn't been photoshopized, and yes I use a common glue gun :

strengthening rotating joins (glue is used as standalone) :

Many of you asked me the way I get net junctions and how I could glue pieces together without any glue overflow. In fact, there IS always glue overflow... but not outside the suit.

bad ->

good ->

Easy.

A quick example of the cheapest pivoting juncture ever :

from a plastic bottle

spare all parts

cut the bottleneck this way

glue the ring inside the border of a round hole in the upper foam piece

glue the bottleneck trough a second hole in the lower foam piece

and reassemble the same it primarily was.

Screw the plug back, you're done.

Depending on the thickness of the foam, once screwed it may jam.
In this case the trick is to cut out few millimeters from the bottom of the cap :

That will release the tightening.
And if the plug stands out too much for the smooth design you expected, cut out a ring from the top of the neck too.

my cheapest operational ARK reactor for moneyless

- you need -

An Evian bottle bottom, 2 inchs height :

One of this kind of pics, of your choice, printed on the thiner paper you can find, cut along the dotted, and then oiled for a better transparency :

A 80mm white round reflector, as you can find at the front of caravans or trailers (keep only the transparent part, of course, but better is to specify it however) :

A led(s) push-spot

and a roll of tape

- HOW TO -

Fill your bottle's bottom with
1. pic of the ARK, printed side turned down,
2. reflector, rugged side down, slicky side up in front of the leds,
3. led spot, lights turned to the reflector
4. cross tape your bottom's bottle to keep all inside in place.
5. Insert the thing in your chest, it fits perfectly, and holds alone.

Joining articulated (and also some sealed) parts :
I used to work as graphist in a publicity agency, and we had always somewhere in the office a couple of useless and sun-faded color charts.

And ?
And I kept thinking that the potential of these pretty little plastic juncture clips were heavyly underexploited.

So I ordered a pack of 100 pieces, as it almost doesn't costs anything.

You can find some here or here or here or here... of various shape, color, diameter and thickness.

And I promise you some discret and incredibly easy attaching for mobile parts (knees elbow toes...) as well as sealed parts such top chest, flaps, handplates, spin and so on... depending of the pressure when cliping.

Those discrete flat-headed rivets on my kneese are very handy and efficient. But they can not be unfasten (except by using barbarian way). Once cliped, you only have to chose between : you leave it alone, or you clip it harder. The axis is toothed so they act just like you car's hand brake.
Coke caps are easyer to find, and can be unscrewed. And to quote Jonny, "the botte neck is quite wide so it's less likely to rip the foam".

armynavy said:

Doll joints works great when putting together the bicep/forearm, and the thigh/shin.

Might be a good alternative to the clips I use (and maybe available in the US ?)

_______

How to sharpen a blade.

You're allowed to disbelieve : I use the same blade since april. I'm a tightwad...

If foam by itself is able to blunt a blade, then something as soft as foam may also sharpen it. The main trick is NOT to take an aggressive nor fierce material. No whetstone, no grindstone, no polishing Dremel tip, not event the thinest sanding paper... Something just like Death, in "Reaper man" from Terry Pratchett, is sharpening his scytheblade using wind and moonlight until it can even cut a conversation.

Sharpener multipurpose SANSON cristal - Precise and fine sharpening

A single and light pass, your blade slides between two tungsten slabs, it takes half a second, and then it cuts better than when it was new.
It's not a joke.
It really cuts better than when it was new.
5 years guarantied.
It makes my life a thousand times easier. I don't know how I could do without for so long...

He's one of us. If you don't recognize his face, you'll recognize his work ^^
Aside the flowers he sends me, he shows and explains for real how to use foam along with the templates available on this thread. Trust it's much more efficient than reading 50 pages. Keep tunned on Cullen Cosplay channel...

Dear users from the entire world,
When you watch a video movie, le last ten minutes are always the same : a black screen with a OST's main title, and a three miles long list of names of peoples that did a thing for this movie. From the realisator to the restroom guy #4, everybody has his name minutely put down. It's shamely boring, and incredibly useless since meenwhile the whole audience is already trying to find back where they've parked their car (and they miss the short hang-up at the very end), BUT credits and casting remains at the end of every movie because it's imposed. And there is a reason why.

TheRPF is a nice and bucolic place, where we can learn, expound, watch, submit, exchange and share knowledge. We often swagger, sometimes learn, and rarely inquire (re-sort on your own), because it's obviously the way a common forum works well.

It must not be a reason to share all and everything, of course, and we have to keep in mind that, just as in a movie, some support and knowledges would not even exist wihtout long time contribution and devotion of REAL people, who happened to spend non-stop long months elaborating concrete and accurate ressources. (And to share it, of course, since an unshared ressource is not a ressource). We can definitively not crop up and claim "have a look at the nice JFcustom's tower I buit out of matches in two hours only", when it remains in fact an Eiffel tower which I moded original plans to use maches as main material insted of steel.

Around here we do not deal with credits. Those who have tryed can't talk about anymore.
That's why I should have renamed each file inside my *.rar befor sharing it whith you. Just like at the end of movies. It can seem also boring and useless, but it has to be seen as a moral obligation for each of us not to disassociate a creation and its creator. And remember nobody can pretend having invented the Purpule Pig only by painting a pig in purple.

But the worse is yet to come.

Just like you I downloaded files, revise them for my own use, bought foam, and built a suit, wihtout asking whatever to anybody. That's fine, TheRPF is here for that too.
BUT ! after having been asked for, and when my turn finaly came to share these modifyed files, I quickly made a zip without inquiring about protocol nor permission from nobody. For an Eiffel Tower id would have been different, G.Eiffel died in winter 1923. But robo3687 and darkside501st did not. And as such, they legitimately want to know what happend to the original files they've shared, what do these files become between our hand. Especially they may want to be notifyed when their files are tunned, and above all they may want to retrive and check new packages in order to allow or no their public distribution.

Oh remorse, remorse, robo3687 for Iron Man Mark IV and darkside501st for Iron Man Mark VII, please be kind enough to forgive an irresponsible and careless frenchie who stole your awsome 3D models you spent a crazy long time to complete, a single guy that finaly did only try to make your work more reachable for most of us, those who can't aford spending half a year to build a cosplay. I apology for all the inconvenience, and promise that by now I won't swift away official protocol channels. But please, it does not seem that users on this thread would like me to stop posting tips I use, nor files I mod. Just let them keep using your work with tips I explain, and allow an access to these files. The more your work will be used, the more consequentialy will grow your notoriety.

Well, files are renamed, creators credited, humble apologyes done... can we please go on now and proceed to dl-links resurection ? Users are queuing...

JFCustom... that was quite a grandstand. Listen, I personally think it is no big deal to modify an existing file (in this case a pepakura file). I did not know anything about your work on this until you contacted me at the request of the RPF Team. So long as you are not claiming these files were developed by yourself then I do not see any problem with you sharing your building techniques and your foam templates of my pepakura files. I do appreciate you putting my name back on the files as I would like people to know where they originated from.

I think it is great that you have taken such a common sense approach to foam building, modified the templates to reflect that, and then shared your build with the other members here on the RPF. That is what this site is here for after all. So I say share on. Live and learn. Now you know one thing that will get you a slap on the wrist so to speak.

Great tips! you know how long Ive been researching to find a better joint solution other than rivets. And you have done it and with simple objects i wouldve never thought of using. Put it on my mark VII leg now it bends perfectly. Thanks for sharing

This is an awesome build! I'm planning on using your modified files to make a foam/aluminum Mark VII, but the .rar files you've posted don't want to open in Pepakura. Do you have another link or method of viewing and printing? Thanks, and great job!